


I'll fight till from my bones my flesh be hack'd.

by missmishka



Category: Man of Steel (2013)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, I kneel before Zod, Macbeth continues to inspire my Zod characterizations, Spoilers for movie, hints of Zod & Jor-El, knowledge of Shakespeare not required
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-20
Updated: 2013-06-20
Packaged: 2017-12-15 15:08:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/850942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missmishka/pseuds/missmishka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>Jor-El he had killed with all the regrets of the man having chosen a path in opposition of Zod; Kal-El he will slay without qualm.</em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll fight till from my bones my flesh be hack'd.

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: The usual warnings, I claim no ownership of these characters, they are simply borrowed with love and adoration from the original creators to have their stories, thoughts or circumstances embellished on a little more than the original format had done. Not for any profit.

> _"I have lived long enough: my way of life_  
>  _Is fall'n into the sear, the yellow leaf;_  
>  _And that which should accompany old age,_  
>  _As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,_  
>  _I must not look to have; but, in their stead,_  
>  _Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath,_  
>  _Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not"_  
>  _~ **Macbeth** , William Shakespeare_

The final ruin of Krypton is in the dust clogging Zod's nostrils and the ash laying thick on his tongue.  His hands sink into the soft covering on the ground comprised of the crumbled debris of buildings and the Genesis Chamber.

Gone.

All gone.

Any chance for the survival of his people reduced to dust and ash.  His Lieutenants, the last of their kind, obliterated.  

All but him and _him_.  

Kal-El.

Into whom Jor-El had encoded the genetics of their entire civilization; on whom Jor-El had pinned the future of their world.  That future had been sent to this new world and it had allied itself with the natives here, opting to preserve the citizens of this Earth over its own kind.

Kal-El was a betrayer of Krypton; the last possible offender of such treason and Zod would wash the ash from his mouth with the blood of Jor-El's legacy. 

Zod pulls a fist from the ground and feels the remnants in his grasp as the traitor approaches.

"Look at this," he unfurls his fingers and the ash flows from his hand.  "We could have built a new Krypton in this squalor, but you chose the humans over us.  I exist only to protect Krypton.  That is the sole purpose for which I was born.  And every action I take, no matter how violent or how cruel is for the greater good of my people."

 _The people_ that he had been genetically bred to protect and defend beyond any want or care for just one citizen.  _The people_ that he had sacrificed the want of his heart for in order to maintain the will and focus to do what had to be done; the desires that he had stifled for the greater purpose.

_"Have you ever wanted to be anything else?"_

Jor-El had asked him that question countless times in their past and Zod's answer had never changed.

_"I am a protector of Krypton, what else could I want to be?"_

He had given everything for that purpose only to have it come to _**this**_.

Kal, son of El, stands before him now as the embodiment of all that could have been and the evidence of Zod's every failure.  It is all gone.  

"And now, I have no people," he swallows the acridness in his mouth and feels his gut churn.  "My soul," he breathes in deeply of this Earthern air and lets the foreign entity spread through him and fan the fire of his rage.  "That is what you have taken from me!"

Defeat is a thing that Zod will not suffer, not at the hands of this one.

This, the naturally bred and born son of Krypton, that Jor-El had died for when he would not sacrifice for the whole of their people.  For this _one_ , Zod had lost all.

For that he will lay waste to the whole of this world and grind its fragile citizenry beneath his heel once he has vanquished this vermin of his people.

With a snarl, he draws in his power and pushes off from the surface of this planet to see this battle done.  

In all the ways that he had loved the father, he hates the son.  

Jor-El he had killed with all the regrets of the man having chosen a path in opposition of Zod; Kal-El he will slay without qualm.


End file.
